Dishwashing machine



J J, GIBNEY DISHWASHING MACHINE Aug. 21-1927. 1,637,376

Filed Aug. 29 1924 ,2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \I\\ A dalwyafd 61962269 4f 7 Mal- W Aug.

J. J. GIBNEY DISHWASHING MACHINE Filed Aug. 29, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jail?! J 6126? jam Patented Aug. 2, 1927.

UNITED STATES JAMESJ. GIBNEY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

DISHWASHING MACHINE.

Application filed August 29, 1924. Serial No. 734,907.

My invention relates to dish washing machines and involves various novel features of construction whereby the operation of the machine is improved and the manufacture thereof at comparatively low cost i facilitated; Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of my invention, like characters indicate like parts thro1.1ghout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the machine approximately on the line Ti -l The tank 6 of the washing machine preferably a sheet metal tank having an inverted truncated conical bottom formed primarily with a large axial opening that is normally closed by a plate 7, the flange of which is sweat-ed, welded, or otherwise rigidly secured to the tank bottom. This plate 7 forms the bottom member'of a pump casing and is formed with an axially depending bearing hub 8. The top plate?) of the pump casing is of annular form and, as shown, it is rigidly but detach'ably secured to the bottom plate 7 by screws 10 working with threaded engagement through lugs 11 on said bottom plate.

The tank is supported by suitable legs .12

shown as equipped with rollers at their lower ends and at their upper ends rigidly secured in sockets 13 formed at the outer extremities of the arms of a depressed spider bracket 14, which latter, .att-he axis of the tank, supports a small electric motor 15 set with its shaft 16 vertical. The upperend of the motor shaft 16 is, connected by a {flexible shaftcouplingi 17 to thelower end of a short vertical shaft 18, which latter is journaled the bearin'g hub Suand extends upward axially. through the pump :casingnf The shaft 18 has acollar 119 countersunk into the bottom plate v'7 of the pump casing, and just above said collar, it is shown as provided with driving lugs 20.

The pump employed is of the rotary centrifugal typean'd its blade-equipped rotor 21 has a hub on the upper portion of the shaft 18 and said rotor is notched to afford seats for the driving lugs 20, as best shown in Fig. 5. This causes the pump rotor to Totate with the shaft 18; but permits the same to be lifted off from said shaft when desired. The axial opening of the annular top plate 9 affords an intake passage for the water pump, and in this intake passage is placed a perforated rotary cylindrical strainer 22, the upper edge of which is secured to a head 23, the hub of which is screwed onto the reduced threaded upper end of the shaft 18.

The top plate 90f the pump casing is provided with peripheral discharge ports 9 that increase circumferentially in height and at theirdischarge ends are'connected to the lowerends of a pair of diametrically opposite discharge tubes 2a, which latter curve upwardly and terminate in a large discharge neck 25 that is located high above the pump casingibut is concentric with the vertically projected axis thereof. Preferably, the

'lower ends of the discharge tubes 24. are

. tion of the tank 6 isa sprayer head 27 provided with perforated tubular operating arms 28. This spraying head 27'is formed with a large depending sleeve'that is looselv journaled on the discharge neck 25-. and is provided at its lower end with .an outstanding annular flange 29 that performs several functionspres ently to be noted. The numeral 30' indicates a flanged retaining ring that has screw-threaded engagement with the large-passage of thedischarge neck 25 and is thus secured with its flange overlying the flange 29 but normally standing considerably above the latter, as shown in Fig. 4. Preferably, the central portion of the spraying'head 27, as well as its arms 28, is perforated on top for the discharge.oflwater sub; stantially asindicated by arrowsion Fig. 1, but the-outer, ends of the. said armsare closed. Tocausethe arms 28,.to performha function additional to" that of spraying: the

water and delivering theisarneagainsttthe dishes, they are formed or provided with oblique blade portions 28 and which operate as hereinafter more fully described.

At their point of junction, the two water discharge tubes 24 are formed with a bearing sleeve 30 and in this sleeve is journaled an upright shaft section or spindle 31. that is axially aligned with. the shaft 18. The lower end of the spindle 31 isconnected to the head 23 by a friction clutch, which, as shown and preferred, of the disc type and is made up of a plurality of discs, certain of which are arranged to rotate with said head 23 and certain of which are secured to the lower end of the Spindle 31 for rotation with the latter. This disc clutch is of a well known type and, hence, is indicated as an entirety by the numeral 32. In disc clutches, the alternated discs are, as is well known, arranged to move axially so that they can be pressed together under greater or less friction; and to regulate this friction, I provide a centrifugal governor. As shown, this governor comprises weighted fly-ball-acting bellcranks 33 pivoted to a small collar 34 secured to the spindle 31. The numeral 35 indicates a governor housing that is secured on the head 23 for rotation therewith. 7 By reference to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the lower end of the spindle 31 is made square. so that it may be axially detached from and axially connected to the disc or discs tha rotate therewith when the parts are ,asscni bled. At its extreme upper end, the spindle 31 has a depressed notch that receives a transverse driving'pin 36 carried by the spraying head. 27. Thus, said spraying head is normally connected to rotate with the spindle 31 but is capable of vertical movements in respect thereto, such as required to raise the flange 29 into and out of engagement with the flange of the retaining collar 30.

Rigidly secured on and rising from the top plate 9 of the pump casing are shearing blades or lugs 37, the purpose of which will. presently appear.

The pump casing is provided with a'tangential drailrport that is connected to a drain pipe 38 This drain pipe 38 extends outward from the bottom plate of the pump casing, on a line first below thebottom of the tank and thence upward to a point far above the level of the water or suds y in the tank, and at its faucet end is provided with a valve 39. i V. Y

The cooperating flanges 29 and 30, under certain. conditions hereinafter noted, afford a friction brake for retarding the rotation of the sprayer head, 27, and for many con ditions, this one friction; brake will serve the purpose. However, for other purposes, I prefer to provide an. additional centrifugally set brake, which is preferably of the type best shown in Figs. 1 and 4- This sec-" ondary or auxiliary friction brake, as shown, comprises a pair of weighted levers 4O pivoted to lugs i1 carried by the sleeve portion of the sprayer head 27 and operative on brake pins {12 that work radially through the depending portion of the sprayer head 27 and normally run freely or without frictional contact in an annular channel 43 formed on the exterior of the discharge neck 25, (see .Fig. 4i), by reference to which it will. be noted that said brake pins have enlargei'nents that limit their inward move ments. Vithin the tank, any suitable arrangement of trays may be provided, but I have shown two such. trays, the lower of which is indicated by the numeral a and the upper by the numeral &5.

Operation.

When the machine is to be used for washing dishes placed in the tray substantially as shown in Fig. 1, the faucet '39 should be closed, so that there will be no discharge of water from the tank through the drain pipe 38. The electric motor 15 will run at rela tively high speed, say from fifteen hundred to two thousand revolutions per minute, and the rotor 21 of the pump will, of course, be driven at correspondingly high speed, and also the rotary strainer 22 and one or more of the discs of the clutch 3 will be rotated at the same speed. The wash water or suds will be drawn into the pump casing through the rotary strainer 22 and any coarse particles caught in the perforations of said strainer will be disintegrated or torn to pieces by the disintegrator blades or lugs 37, and, moreover, such particles will be thrown outward by a centrifugal force and, hence, there will be no danger of. said rotary strainer becoming clogged with garbage or solid matter washed from the dishes. 1 The first action of the rotary pump is to force the water under high pressure upward through the water discharge'tubes 24 and neck 25 into the sprayer head 27, and arms 28, and this upwardlyexerted pressure will raise the sprayer head so that its friction flange 29 will be forced against the flange of the retaining collar 30, thereby producing afriction that will very greatly retard the speed of rotation of the sprayer head. Thus, the sprayer head is held for relatively very slow rotation. I

Also when the sprayer head is raised as above just indicated, the brake pins 42 will be raised outof the clearance channel 43 and will then bepressed into frictional contact with the upper portion of the discharge neck 25, which latter, it will be remembered, isa non-rotary element. hen thus raised, the inner ends of the brake pins 42 frictionally engage the exterior of the discharge neck .25. and the higher the speed of rotation, the greater will be the force exerted by the weighted levers 4O tending to ress said brake pins against said neck. ence, it is evident that while the water is being forced into the sprayer head and dischargedtherefrom and against the dishes, the saidsprayer head will rotate slowly and will produce the best kind of delivery of water against the functions, towitzthat of spraying the Water and that of blowing air to dry the dishes.

What I claim is: 1. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a rotary sprayer within the tank, a pump re ceiving water from the tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with condishes. It ma be again noted that the notch nections for drivin said nun J. frictional y c s 36 in the upper end of the spindle 231 permits the sprayer head to rise and fall'and cause the same alwaysto be driven with the spindle 31. The speed of rotation of the sprayer head acquired during the dish-washing action will not be quite enough to cause the weighted leversor governor ball elements 33 to very tightly press together the discs of the clutch. Otherwise stated, the frictional retarding action above described will be suflicient to prevent the clutch governorfrom setting the clutch tight enough to cause the sprayer to rotate at high speed.

As I have demonstrated inpractice, when the faucet 39 is opened while the motor is in action, thewash water will be discharged out through the drain pipe 38 and the sprayer head will be entirely relieved from the upward pressure of the water. In fact, water will be completely blow-n or forced from the tank under the centrifugal action of therotary pump. This discharge of the Water through the opened drain pipe, rather than to and through the rotarysprayer, is due largely to the fact that said drain pipe leads'from the tangential. discharge port of the casing, so that the wash water finds its freest escapeoutthrough said drain pipe.

When the sprayer head is relieved 'from the upward pressure of the water, it drops back to itsnormal positionshown in-Figs. 1 and i, and both frictional brake devices, towit: that afforded by the flanges 29 and 30'and that afforded by the brake pins 42 and weighted levers, will cease to function and will then leave the sprayer head free for rotation at high speed. i

When the sprayer head is thus relieved from the friction of the braking device or devices, the friction of the clutch 32 will be sufiicient to immediately increasethe speed of rotation of said sprayer, and as'this speed.

increases, the weighted levers or fly balls 33 will progressively increase the friction be tween the discs of the said clutch and then the motor will impart to the sprayer head and its arms a high speed of rotation, towit: a speed that may somewhat closely approach that of the motor but will not be as great as the speed of the motor. When the sprayer is thus rotated at high speed, the beveled portions 28 of its arms will act as. propeller or fan blades and will blow air upwardly at high velocity, thereby quickly drying the washed dishes. Thus, it will be seen that the sprayer designed as above described on the general .plan indicated performs two driving means between said pump and sprayer, and means for braking said sprayer proportionately to an increase in speed of said motor.

2-. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a rotary sprayer within the tank, a pump re ceiving water from the tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, amotor with connections for driving said pump, frictional driving means between said pump and sprayer, and means operated by the flow of water for braking said sprayer proportionately to an increase in. speed of said motor.

3. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a rotary sprayer within the tank, a pump receiving water from the tank and delivering thesame to said sprayer, a motor with con. nections for driving said puniip, frictional driving means between said pump and sprayer, means for braking said sprayer proportionately to an increase in speed of said motor,- and centrifugally operated braking means operating further to decrease the speed of rotation of said sprayer.

i. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a

rotary sprayer within the tank, a pump re ceiving water or air from the tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with connections for driving said pump, frictional driving means between said pinup and sprayer, and means for causing said sprayer to rotate at relatively low speed when water is pumped thereto and for causingit to rotate at relatively high speed when air is pumped thereto. 5. In a dish washing i nachine, a tank, a rotary sprayer within the tank, a pump receiving water or air from the tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with connections for driving said pump, frictional driving means between said pump and sprayer, and means intermediate said pump and sprayer adapted to decrease the speed of said sprayer when water is forced therethrough by said pump and to increase the speed of said sprayer when air is forced. therethrough.

6. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a combined rotary sprayer and fan-acting blower within the tank, a pump receiving water or air from said tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with connections for driving said pump, a friction drive connection between said pump and combined sprayer and blower, and braking mechanism operating only when Water is pumped, whereby said combined sprayer and lot) lll)

lzZo

blower will be rotated at relatively low speed in the water-pumping and dish-wash ing action and will be rotated at relatively high speed when said pump is relieved from the water-pumping action.

7. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a combined rotary sprayer and fairact ing blower within the tank and having vertical limited movement therein, a pump receiving water or air from said tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with connections for driving said pump, a friction drive Connection between said pump' and combined sprayer and blower, and braking mechanism ope-rated only by the lift of the combined sprayer and blower when water is pumped therethrough, whereby said combined sprayer and blower will be rotated at relatively low speed in water-mimping and dish-washing action and will be rotated at relatively high speed when said pump is relieved from the water-pumping action.

8. In a dish washing machine, the combination witha tank, of a rotary pump therein, the bottom plate of the casing of which forms a depression in the bottom of said tank, said casing having an axial inlet in its top plate in line with the tank bottom proper, a rotary sprayer in said tank above said pump casing, a motor with connections for driving the rotor of said pump, said pump casing having an outlet connected to said sprayer, a screen rotating with said pump rotor and interposed in the pump casing inlet, and a fixed disintegrator in proximity to the exterior wall of said screen.

9. The combination with a washing tank having a centrally apertured bottom and article receiving racks therein, of a pump casing disposed in and closing said central. aperture, a rotary pump in said casing disposed below the bottom surface of said tank, a central fluid inletfrom said tank to said casing, means for spraying the fluid through "ing disposed in and closing said central aperture, a rotary pump in said casing disposed below the bottom surface of said tank,

a central fluid inlet "from said tank to said casing, means for sp aying the fluid through.

said tank, a screen rotating with said pump rotor and interposed in the pump casing inlet, and a fixed disintegra'tor in proximity to the exterior wall of said screen.

11. In a dish washing machine, a tank, a combined rotary sprayer and fan within the tank, a pump receiving water or air from the tank and delivering the same to said sprayer, a motor with connections for driving both said pumpand said sprayer, and means for causing said sprayer torotate at relatively low speed when water is pumped thereto and for causing it to rotate at relatively high speed when air is, pumped thereto.

12. In a dish washing machine, a'tank having a water space in the lower portion thereof, a rotary spray generator in the lower portion of the tank above said Water space having means to direct water in streams upwardly throughout the tank, a pump in the water space, means forming conduits extending upwardly from the pump for supplying water tow the spray generator, and a. motor for driving said pump JAMES J. GIBNEY. 

